The average computer user has a hard time setting up a home network that properly communicates with all the machines hooked up to the network. This becomes even more problematic when there are different operating systems involved. You may prefer a Mac, have a Windows work laptop, but have also purchased a Linux netbook and have no idea how to make three different platforms communicate across the network properly. Instead of worrying about having this home network set up like this there is a simpler solution.
There are applications on the internet that allows users to backup and sync files between their computer and the server where data is stored. Many of these services, like Drop Box, give away 2 gigabytes of free space and have paid models for more space if needed. Programs like these can be installed to any operating system allowing there to be gigabytes of storage between multiple computers automatically syncing and updating changed files. These are nice as they are not attached to any one platform.
The advantage of something like this over the home network besides ease of use is that your laptop that's not connected to the home network when away can still be accessing the same files just as if you were part of the same home network. In fact one could access this data even while not using a computer that has ever been part of that home location from a distance.
Some don't like the idea of potential security breaches, but with trusted services this isn't an issue. Keeping your logins and passwords safe from malicious software is something that you will have to do, but the same security issues could happen if the files are stored on your home network versus on a server on the internet which makes the argument against this a bit flawed.
